2025-04-17 19:12:18CHAPTER 4: King of Nothing
Three weeks.
That’s how long Rowan spent hidden from the world, isolated, sore, and mostly pissed off.
For the first two days, he could barely move. On the third, the system stopped feeling sorry for him.
‘New Task: Physical Calibration Trial – Tier 1
Task: Hold a two-minute plank. Failures Remaining: 2Penalty for Failure: Neural shock calibration delay’Rowan stared at the glowing white text hovering in front of him and groaned. “OH, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
He had barely recovered from cracked ribs and a black eye, and now the system wanted him to work out?
He dropped to the floor and positioned himself on his elbows.
One minute in, his arms started shaking.
By one minute thirty, his entire body trembled like a paper in a hurricane.
At one minute forty-two, he collapsed.
‘FAIL.
Retry Initiated.’
“Who built this sentient torture program?” Rowan grunted as he rolled onto his back.
‘Complaints Registered. Ignoring…’
By Day 5, he was running drills across a virtual obstacle course built into his mind.
‘Dodge left, Rowan!’ the system barked.
He dove right.
‘FAIL. Virtual shuriken has pierced your kidney.’
“WHAT?!”
‘Simulated. Not real. But it would’ve hurt. A lot.’
Rowan cursed under his breath.
“Motherfu***”
This wasn’t training, it was character assassination.
On Day 10, the system dropped a new mission:
‘Neural Interface Calibration – Initiating
Objective: Hack a simulated firewall in under 60 seconds.’He sat at a desk in a sleek mental simulation, like a digital CIA office and stared at a glowing black wall.
Rows of glowing symbols scrolled down like The Matrix on speed.
“Uh... hello? Instructions please?” Rowan asked.
‘You're supposed to feel it. Intuit the code.’
“How? I’m not a walking USB!”
‘Wrong answer.’
Every failed attempt sent a mild electric pulse through his skull.
Not painful, just annoying enough to remind him that failure sucked.
By Day 15, something clicked.
He stopped trying to analyze the code... and started syncing with it.
His brain felt like it was on fire, his pupils dilated and changed its color to sea blue, and the code began to pulse with rhythm.
Like music.
He cracked the firewall in 39 seconds.
‘SUCCESS. Neural Interface Active.
You may now breach any digital server with 60% efficiency.’
Rowan slumped back in the chair, panting.
“If this is level one...then I don’t want to see level ten.”
On Day 20, Conrad walked into the training suite to find Rowan hanging upside down from a pull-up bar, reading server logs aloud while his system fired questions at him mid-exercise.
“Is this... what you do for fun now?” Conrad asked.
Rowan smirked upside-down. “It’s revenge cardio.”
Conrad chuckled. “You're almost ready.”
“Almost?” Rowan dropped from the bar and landed with a grunt. “I’ve unlocked neural interface, physical stability, visual compression mode, AND resistance to passive manipulation. What more do I need to do, walk on water?”
‘New Task: Water Walking – Unlocked.’
Rowan pointed at the hologram. “ What the hell? That was sarcasm.”
‘System does not understand sarcasm.’
“Of course you don’t,” he muttered.
Day 21.
Rowan stood in front of a mirror in a custom-tailored black suit. His long dark hair fell just below his shoulders. The mole on his cheek was more pronounced now that the swelling had gone down.
His eyes?
Still forest-green. Still sharp.
But colder.
Sharper.
He straightened his collar and whispered, “Let’s go remind them who I am.”
**********
“Next slide, please,” barked Mr. Cooper, clicking his remote with pride. “As you can see, projections are stable despite the recent losses.”
The board members nodded, half asleep, sipping overpriced coffee.
Aurora sat at the end of the table, legs crossed, expression bored. Carson stood behind her like a loyal hound, arms folded.
That’s when the boardroom doors opened.
Slow. Smooth. Unapologetic.
Everyone turned.
Rowan walked in.
Every step was controlled. Intentional. Deadly.
The silence was thick. Like a room full of statues.
Mrs. Cooper was the first to speak.
“You…”
Rowan smiled. “Me.”
Mr. Cooper stood up, red-faced. “ What are you doing here? You’re trespassing! Guards, Get this peasant out of here”
“Hey Mr Coop, Slow your roll, I just came…. visiting,” Rowan corrected, casually sliding a Stormont Corporation ID card across the table.
The logo shimmered, Stormont Corp.
Not Cooper Enterprises.
“You’re bluffing,” Carson hissed.
Rowan turned to him. “Cute of you to speak, considering I just pulled the firewall logs from your server this morning. You might want to check your offshore accounts, by the way.”
Carson paled, “What are you talking about?”
Mr. Cooper barked at security. “Get him out of here!”
But the guards hesitated.
Rowan pulled out a device and tapped it. A hologram popped up above the board table.
‘DECLARATION OF INHERITANCE – STORMONT ESTATE
NAME: ROWAN STORMONTAUTHORIZED BY: STATE COURT OF NEW YORK’Everyone froze.
Rowan smiled,This was exactly what he wanted.
“Judging by the expression on your faces. You'll be seeing more of me”
Aurora stood. “Rowan, Is this some kind of game? What do you think you're doing?”
Rowan turned to her. “Game’s over, sweetheart. You guys fired me five years ago. So i just came to say hi”
‘System Alert: Sync 12.4% — Confidence Boost +3%’
The security guards stepped back.
Rowan walked to the end of the table, leaned over, and whispered to Mr. Cooper,
“I was the king you made into a houseboy. Now I’m back on my throne. And thank you. This could only happen because you threw me out”
Mr. Cooper’s face turned an interesting shade of purple.
Rowan straightened, glancing around the room.
“This company has laundered funds, manipulated stock, and betrayed contracts all under your name. The authorities will be very interested.”
“You can’t prove…” Aurora started.
Rowan’s system blinked.
‘Display Evidence?’
“Yes,” Rowan said aloud.
His system connected instinctively to the second hologram already in the boardroom and it popped up videos, emails, transaction trails.
All timestamped.
All damning.
Mrs. Cooper let out a strangled noise.
Rowan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “This is just the first domino, Mother”
He turned to the rest of the Board members. “Buckle your shoes People, You’re in for a a ride”.
He turned to leave, coat flaring behind him.
But just as he passed the door, his system chimed.
‘High-Level Energy Signature Detected
Source: Unknown. Matching Genetic Pattern Located Nearby.Status: Approaching.’Rowan stopped.
“Approaching?” he muttered. “Who?”
The system flashed a final alert.
‘MATCH FOUND: GENETIC TWIN SIGNATURE. 84% COMPATIBILITY.
Rowan’s heart skipped.’
Twin.
Here?
Now?
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